Friday, August 26, 2011

If you want your kids to take photos with your expensive camera, try kid-proofing it first using Sugru, a multi-purpose, non-slumping variant of silicone that resembles modeling clay. Here's how: "By covering a camera with soft Sugru walls it can be made drop proof so even the most wild child wont be able to break it."

This awesome Avengers Lego minifigs is done by Lego builder Dunechaser. He has more figures in his Minifigs with Superpowers Flickr photoset. He writes: "Can one be a superhero fan without being a comic book fan? If so, that's me. Here are some of my favorite superheroes and villains, alongside super-minifigs of my own invention."

The folks behind the Hobbit House of Montana were building a small underground guest home for family and friends that would support easy heating in the winter and cooling in the summer. Then one day, the contractor’s son mentioned to them that it looked like a Hobbit House so the owners decide to make it into one!

Jenn shows us how she made her very cool R2-D2 helmet! She writes: "The final step was giving it about 374 cans of clear coat. I think if I learned anything from this project, it's that nothing (except cakes) can suffer from too many layers of clear coat. When it was done I wore it around the house until it was time for bed... and then I wore it to bed."

Check out the new Adidas Star Wars Collection. I like their Star Wars Flight Jacket, inspired by Han Solo. It is a restyling of a classic design with plenty of pockets. Features a cool Millennium Falcon graphic on the back with the words "Galactic Scoundrel" and "Forever Reckless and Foolhardy" printed underneath.

Do you want to smell like Harry Potter? The Harry Potter Fragrance Oil is meant to capture the character of Harry Potter with the scent of firebolt birchwood, dragon's blood, and the slightest hint of treacle tart and butterbeer. If smelling like Harry is not your thing, then try the Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall and Albus Dumbldore Fragrance Oil instead.

Designed for the growing cooperative movement, Co-opoly: The Game of Cooperatives is an educational game where everyone wins – or everybody loses. In the game, players must collaborate to start and run a democratic business. Players make tough choices regarding big and small challenges while putting their teamwork abilities to the test.

Monday, August 22, 2011

So I seized the Iron Throne at the Game of Thrones preview screening by HBO Asia. I know. I look like a king! You can view photos of the bloggers, journalists and guests at the screening over at HBO Asia's yfrog page.

Game Of Thrones is a brand new HBO Original Series based on George R. R. Martin's best selling "A Song of Ice and Fire" series of fantasy novels. The show focuses on seven noble families as they fight for control of the mythical land of Westeros. It's like "The Sopranos in Middle-earth".

The Hollywood Reporter has a good review: "Game of Thrones has all the elements that lure viewers to shows like The Sopranos, et al. That it’s a fantasy series shouldn’t scare anyone away, because – like Lord of the Rings – there’s a real allure to costume-dramas that pair dense mythology with all of the crowd-pleasing elements of war, honor, pride, lust, power and, yes, even humor. Thrones has all of those in spades and supports them with exceptional storytelling, strong writing, superb acting and some stunning visual effects."

All you bikers will love this revolutionary bicycle lighting system. Revolights consist of 2 thin profile LED rings (white in front, red in back) that mount directly to each wheel rim. Revolights provide 360 degrees visibility. Once the wheels move, the Revolights project the light forward and backward, providing increased visibility when you're on the road.

Elliot Quince selected random characters from Star Wars for his Plasticine Tattooine book. He says: "I imagine how bitter they must have been at not making it big, how badly they were treated on set or how cruelly their lives have panned out since the movies were released. Oh, and just to make sure the project really was unique, I decided to make all of the characters out of plasticine!"

Imagine the iPhone 4 made into a table. That's the iTableous, the idea of Benjamin Bachmeier. His iTableous has Full HD TV reception via DVB-T, an integrated DVD player, a mini-ITX board with dual boot option (OSX SL and Win 7), a 4 +1 sound system, a HD-cam and much more but unfortunately, no multi-touch. It's ok. I want one for my living room!

Dreaming of the Dark Side is a photo editorial about a girl dreaming of Darth Vader. Check out the photos. The first few look like they could be taken from a scene in some Star Wars porn film. Poor twi’lek lady shouldn't be flirting with Darth Vader. Thankfully, it's a just a dream.

Made from lightweight aluminum and ABS plastic, the Exo-Boot by Cybertex clips onto your knee high, or calf-high boots with at least two inches of heel and toe rubber. Wear the boots and you'll immediately impress your friends thinking that you have exo-legs. And if that's not enough, there's a range of accessories to make you look even more sci-fi weird.

I love this painting done by Victo Ngai, a New York based award-winning illustrator form Hong Kong. It's an old school Japanese style painting of Darth Vader clad in samurai gear with a lightsaber, fighting what looks like a very small man.

Johnson Arms specializes in military, sci-fi and steampunk style guns. This is his District 9 Style Rifle Prop: "The foam dart tagger gun in description is as close to what you will receive as possible. They are all hand painted by only myself. Each gun takes about one to two weeks to complete with multiple sandings and paintings." You can buy his guns here.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Last week, I received a very unusual package from HBO Asia as part of their invite to the preview screening of Game Of Thrones which will take place on 18 August at ION Sky. Games Of Thrones is a brand new HBO Original Series based on George R. R. Martin's best selling "A Song of Ice and Fire" series of fantasy novels. Game Of Thrones premieres Aug 28, 10pm on HBO Asia.

HBO Asia sent me four essential ingredients for Westeros' famous lemon cakes. The lemon cake is a popular delicacy in the story of Game of Thrones, especially with the children. Each ingredient comes with its own piece of puzzle card.

The first ingredient is a packet of flour. It also comes with a frame that you can use to piece together all the four puzzle cards to get the complete message.

The second ingredient is the sugar.

The third ingredient is a lemon. They also sent me a real lemon cake!

The fourth and final ingredient is the eggs. You can't make a lemon cake without the eggs.

Here are all the four puzzle cards.

Combine them all together, and this is what you get. Like I said, what an unusual way to invite someone to an event but it works! Well done, HBO Asia. See you guys at the Preview.

On behalf of Singapore's singing sensation - Erik, Eugene, Josh and Nicolas aka The Promise - the folks at PayPal Singapore has sent me a little gift to thank me for being part of The Promise Campaign.

The Promise Campaign is an initiative by PayPal to rally all online shoppers towards safer, easier and more confident shopping online. And as part of the campaign, The Promise did a music video for me. You can watch it above. Pretty cool huh.

So here's the gift but what's inside the PayPal bag?

Hmmm.

It's a jar...

Full of blue M&Ms!

Wah! How come they know I love M&Ms and that blue is one of my favourite colours? Thanks PayPal for the music video and the jar of M&Ms "cause there's nothing like a promise kept."

Not only is it available on your mobile phone, now it is also available on your dinner plate! A restaurant chain in Hong Kong is selling official Angry Birds mooncakes for the Chinese mid-autumn festival. The mooncakes come in two flavours: chocolate, and mango and pomelo. I don't think they come with slingshots.

Barbie dolls were extremely significant in fueling Margaux Lange's creative life as a child. Now all grown up, she makes jewellery using Barbie doll parts in combination with sterling silver and pigmented resins. Her Plastic Body Series is meant to examine and celebrate her own as well as pop culture’s relationship with the icon known simply as: Barbie.

Erica Schoenberger is selling this cool Star Wars R2D2 sweater. She says: "I offer in this listing a knitted R2D2 raglan-style sweater, handmade by myself, custom made to order as per your measurements. The perfect-fitting sweater is so hard to find, and as a super Star Wars geek myself, this is uber-fantastic!"

Here's a look at the latest conveyor belt of football boots set to hit the shops and the Premier League stars that will be wearing them. My favourite player from Tottenham Hotspur, Gareth Bale, wears the adizero F50 by Adidas, the same boot worn by Messi. The boot is supposedly the lightest ever created.

Jerod Gibson has started a series called 37 Posters. Each poster in the series contains a simple silhouette image from a movie or television show, and is filled with quotes. He has done posters for the Simpsons, Star Wars and even the Goonies. You can buy them here.

Matt Busch's awesome illustrated Indiana Jones World Map shows all of the locations that Indiana Jones has made archeological discoveries in the movies, novels, comic books, TV, video games and more. There are 36 different archeological artifacts displayed, each illustrated where Indy discovered it, and numbered chronologically.

Fauxgo is a cool website that collects fake logos, symbols or other small designs created to represent a fictional company or organization that exists only on film. This is the Cobra Command logo from the 1985 film, GI Joe.

Dude show you how to make a R2D2 lamp using a lamp bought from Ikea. He writes: "First you'll need a lamp that looks like R2. I used the Tertial lamp from IKEA. It was $9 at my IKEA and only comes in silver. It also has a pixar-ey kinda look to it too with the springs I liked it as a lamp before I decided to sticker it up."

If you're bored with your appearance and you want to change it everyday, try this collection of stylish moustaches made of life-like synthetic hair and backed with adhesive tape. Stick it above your lips and Monday you're the Hero and Thursday you're the Weasel. You'll get a dashing new look each day of the week.

Williams-Sonoma, the premier specialty retailer of home furnishings and gourmet cookware is selling the Marvel Kitchen Collection, a range of Marvel superheroes inspired bakeware including this Hero Cookie Cutter Set which includes Spider-Man, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

So what was MP Penny Low really doing when the national anthem was played at National Day Parade? She was caught on live TV using the phone while everyone else was singing Majulah Singapura. Was she playing Angry Birds on her mobile phone or was she searching for the lyrics to the national anthem? The answer: Facebook!

Yes, Penny has admitted that she was using her mobile phone to tell her Facebook followers how she felt while standing there. She says: "“I was so caught up in the wonderful NDP 2011 and felt so proud of being a Singaporean, that I wanted to capture that moment of pride, at the very tail end of the anthem, to share on FB with my residents. If in my enthusiasm I offended anyone, please accept my apologies. NDP is a time to unite not divide. Majulah Singapura!”" I understand your enthusiasm Penny but maybe you should try to control it better and wait until the national anthem is over before you Facebook. Tsk.

Video here. Bigger picture here. Btw, that's Tin Pei Ling to her right. That girl looked so serious while singing the anthem. At least, she wasn't playing with her phone or her Kate Spade bag. Shame on you, Penny Low.

Update: MediaCorp censors segment of Penny Low looking down at her HP in the replay of National Day Parade, replacing it with a view of the fireworks.

You can still view the Penny Low segment (last 6 mins) on the webcast replay over at the NDP official website. I guess they forgot to censor it there.

Mattel will be selling this ultra cool Ghostbusters Ghost Trap toy in October. In the Ghostbusters, the ghost trap was used for detaining and transporting ghosts until they could be safely stuffed into the Ecto Containment Unit. The toy comes with a pedal for opening the trap.

If you love Super Mario and if you have a 3D printer, you would be mad not to try making your own 3D Printed Turtle Shell Racer. Just print out all the parts, follow the instructions and assemble them together. Oh, you also need components that you can rip apart from a cheap RC car.

Identify The London Rioters is appealing for people to upload photos of the rioters and looters in London and elsewhere in UK and to help identify them. If you know anyone click "Yes, I know this person" then enter the person's name and where's he from. You can watch the BBC for the very latest on the England riots.

I love these set of Marvel Minimalist Posters done by Marko Manev an illustrator in Skopje, Macedonia. Marko is currently working in his studio, painting and working on a graphic novel. You can buy them as prints here.

CW Karstens is looking for backers for his new board game called Dragon Valley. In the game, players take on the role of Barons that must defend the Kingdom, but most importantly their own Baronies, from the attacking orcs and dragons. The King sends aid in the form of knights, archers, blacksmith shops, defensive towers and special abilities to his favorite for that round.

Jomny painted several Airbus aircraft models with the Angry Birds theme and flew them on Microsoft Flight Simulator X. The A320 was used for Red Bird, A319 for the Blue Bird and A321 for the Yellow Bird. As for the Pig, he used Airbus rival, the 737-800 from Boeing.

Saturday, August 06, 2011

Marvel Studios is now famous for using post-credits scenes in its movies to develop connections for its cinematic universe. Here are all the post-credits scenes that tie in to the much awaited The Avengers movie taken from Iron Man 1 and 2, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America: The First Avenger, and Thor. Enjoy!

Intrigued by how Rag & Flag elicits reactions that range from extreme passion to simple indifference and even utter distaste, a group of NUS students set out to discover the origins of this NUS tradition in a documentary called Rag to Riches. Interviews with key participants paint a stark picture of a tradition gone astray and evolving out of proportions.

The Space Shuttle's Last Flight is a definitive documentary that charts the rise and fall of the space shuttle, the most ambitious space programme ever undertaken. For the three decades since its first launch in 1981, the shuttle has become an iconic symbol of America's technological dominance and has rewritten the rules of space travel.

As Seen On

Producer, Director, DP, Editor. Works on documentaries, commercials and branded content. A Spurs fan, experienced astronomer and occasional ITK. I.Z. Reloaded covers news, pop culture, blogs, websites, gadgets, the fascinating and the weird from a Singapore perspective. The blog is a runner up in both the 2006 Weblog Awards (Best Asia Blog) and the 2004 Asia Blog Awards (Best Singapore Blog). Contact him at izreloaded[at]gmail[dot]com.